High school. For many girls, it represents a time of awkwardness and cringe-worthy crushes.

In Japan, however, schoolgirls are seen as style mavens. A symbol of youthful freedom, they are a widely exalted as fashion and pop-cultural icons, featuring in manga such as “InuYasha,” anime like “Sailor Moon” and Hollywood movies such as “Kill Bill.”

But they’re not just an object of fascination. They also have tremendous power as consumers. Nowhere is the consumer power of young Japanese girls more visible than at the biannual Tokyo Girls Collection show, the biggest fashion event in Tokyo. Read More »

Karl Lagerfeld — the 77-year-old style icon and designer — is bringing cute to haute couture by being reborn as a cuddly character.

Tokodoki

Mr. Lagerfeld has long been one of fashion’s most recognizable luminaries thanks to his white ponytail, black sunglasses and gloves. He has now commissioned design firm tokidoki to create a Japanese manga or comic-book version of himself, which has been used to make Lagerfeld-character clothing, accessories and even a limited-edition doll.

Simone Legno of Los Angeles, who designed the Lagerfeld character, is one of the biggest non-Japanese champions of kawaii. Read More »

Kawaii culture has many guises, but what exactly is it? If it’s just the Japanese word for “cute,” as it’s usually translated, why not just call it that? Here are five things about kawaii that go against common misperceptions. Read More »

In a country where cuteness is an obsession, the southern Japanese city of Fukuoka boasts that its girls are the cutest of them all.

The city is trying to promote itself as the nation’s capital of cute through a campaign that, without any detectable irony, invites young ladies from around the country to register as a “resident” of Fukuoka in a new virtual administrative district called “Cute Ward.” Read More »

What: Discover the roots of modern Japanese cute with an exhibition of the late Rune Naito’s 1960s artworks that went on to shape the aesthetic of kawaii – think big-eyed, stylishly dressed girls looking winsome and sweet. Suitably, the exhibition is in the cute fashion district of Shibuya.